


Post Mars-Landing AU | "Just a knife wound. No big deal."

by cosmictrap



Series: Tumblr Prompts [5]
Category: New Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e20 Mars Landing, Mars Landing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 15:10:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13504119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmictrap/pseuds/cosmictrap
Summary: Nick and Jess are coping with their breakup. Or are they?





	Post Mars-Landing AU | "Just a knife wound. No big deal."

It’s been a couple of days since Jess and Nick have broken up. Jess has been pretending that she was perfectly fine, and that being just friends with Nick wasn’t killing he, because that seemed to help her avoid all sorts of questions; no one would ask anything if she was fine, right? But the facade was taking a toll on her, and she just needed some time to herself, to be able to cry her eyes and just… be sad. **  
**

The opportunity finally presents itself.

Jess is sunken into the couch and watching Dirty Dancing, a glass of pink wine in her hand and a tub of icecream in the other. After breaking up with Nick, she’s hardly ever had the chance to be alone in the loft to be able to watch Dirty Dancing and cry her eyes out. Winston and Schmidt apparently wanted to get laid, and as for Nick… Well, he’s been out most nights these days and she knows he’s sleeping at the bar in Big Bob’s office (Shane’s made Big Bob the manager before she left out of spite towards Nick). She’s worried for him, but she’s not his girlfriend anymore, so she has relinquished the rights to ask after him.

She’s sobbing openly now, pausing only to stuff some ice-cream into her mouth or to sip some more wine. Her chest is physically aching from all the crying, but now that she’s started she is not able to watch. Her eyes are hurting as well, and she’s not able to focus on the TV anymore. But she continues to watch it anyway because through the haze of her tears, she can make out the familiar shapes of her favourite characters. As dramatic as it sounded, the familiarity is the only thing that makes her feel comfortable and warm in that moment.

It makes her miss Nick just a little less. Just a little.

*

Nick didn’t really want to go home early tonight. Well, technically, it’s late, but he’s more than happy to be sleeping in the office, and only visiting the loft for the occasional shower and to let Schmidt know that he was alive and kickin’. But tonight, the situation called for a quick visit home.

So he found himself standing in front of the loft door. He can hear Jess crying inside, and he feels a little taken aback. Because not only has he seen or heard anything from her in such a long time, it just felt surreal to stand a door away from her. And also, if Schmidt was to be believed, she seemed to have recovered fine. He shakes his head at himself, and tells himself that he shouldn’t be that self-centred; she’s probably crying about something else.

Inhaling deeply, he tries to open the door as quietly as possible, clutching his bleeding hand tightly to himself.

*

Jess is slightly tipsy now, so she’s about to unleash another wave of unrestrained tears, but they die in her throat when she hears the door click open. Sh turns off the TV quickly and whips her head around, almost dropping her glass of wine when she sees it’s Nick. She hates herself for it, but her eyes well up again because she hasn’t seen him in so long.

“Nick,” she says, and she’s unable to keep the whimper out of her voice as she jumps out of the couch.

“Hey, Jess,” he says, and his voice cracks a little as he takes in the sight of her dishevelled hair and tear-stained face. He tries to hide his injured hand behind him, but Jess… well, Jess is sharp.

“What’s that?” she sniffles, stepping out from behind the couch.

“Nothing,” he mutters, trying to make a  run for his room, but Jess has always been faster than him and she’s standing in front of him.

“Nick,” she says, and he almost laughs because the teacher-like tone in her voice makes it feels like old times. Except for her red face and tear trails down her cheek. He shakes his head and sighs.

“Jess, it’s nothing-” he starts, but she’s already tugging at it from behind him and he feels his breath hitch because even now, her touch leaves trails of fire on his skin.

She’s holding his hand between them now and staring at the furiously bleeding gash on his forearm. “You’re bleeding,” she whispers and her eyes are tearing up again.

“Jess,” he sighs and he tries to tug it away from her. “It’s just a knife wound. No big deal.”

Her grip on his hand tightens and her head shoots up to look at him. “A knife wound?  _A knife wound!_  Nicholas Miller, what-”

“Jess, it’s nothing,” he says, trying to calm her down. “It was late and two guys got into a fight. One of them pulled a knife and-”

“You tried to stop a man with a knife  _without_  any weapons!?” she squeaks, looking at him incredulously, and the tears are streaming down her face now, but she looks pissed.

“Yeah, I mean I-”

“ _Shut up_ , Nick!” she says and pulls him with her towards the bathroom.

“Jess, you don’t have to-”

“I  _said, shut up_!” she scowls. “You need first aid and I’m giving it to you whether you like it or not!”

He does shut up, not only because he doesn’t want to push her but because it secretly feels nice to just be this close to her and see her care.

As Jess walks to the bathroom with Nick in tow, she’s aware, somewhere in the back of her mind she knows that all her rational thought had been kicked to the curb because of all the pink wine, but she does it anyway. Knows that she’ll wake up tomorrow and cry over whatever was happening tonight. Because he would probably disappear again and she wouldn’t see him for days on end. But she’s a sucker for punishment because she feels happier than she’s felt in days just being around him.

“Wash your hand and go sit there,” she instructs and Nick quietly obeys.

Seconds later, Nick is sitting on the edge of the toilet seat and watching Jess shuffling around the bathroom, getting whatever she needed, muttering under her breath about Nick being a reckless idiot. Few seconds later, she’s kneeling in front of him, his hand level with her eye.

“This is going to sting a little,” she mutters, as she dabs some Dettol onto his wound. “And you might want to get a tetanus shot tomorrow.”

“Jess, you don’t have to-”

She simply shoots him a glare and he shuts up.

“Yes, ma’am,” he says instead.

She cleans the gash, and now it’s not bleeding anymore. It’s an angry red line across his forearm, and almost absent-mindedly, she runs a gentle finger over the cut and sniffles again.

“This is my fault,” she says, crying a little as she wraps his hand with bandage.

“What, Jess, how is-”

“Because I know you stick around till late hours in the bar to avoid me,” she sniffles as she finishes tying up the bandage.

It takes a lot of restraint on his part to keep himself from enveloping her in a soothing hug. “Jessica, it’s not your fault,” he says, leaning forward, so his face just a few inches away from her face. “Bar fights are common. They happen all the time.”

“You wouldn’t’ve been in one if you came home early,” she mutters.

“Jess-”

“I worry a lot,” she says quietly.

“Jess,” he sighs. “You don’t have to-”

“Stop it with the  _‘you don’t have to’_ , Nick!” she snaps, and angry tears are pouring down her face.

“All I mean is…” he inhales deeply and swallows. “… you don’t have to care anymore.”

She stares at him angrily, and her eyes are red now. With controlled anger, she says in a really low voice. “It’s  _not_ a freakin’ button, Nick. I really,  _really_ wish it was, but it isn’t!”

“I know Jess, but-”

“No. You don’t seem to know because let me tell you, people don’t just fall out of love overnight,” she says, her voice cracking a little. “I still love you.”

His throat dries up and his heart is beating faster. He can only watch mutely as she stands up with a sigh and turns her back to him. “I hate not seeing you around. I miss you. And I hate it.”

He stands up too because he knows that this was a make-or-break moment, and he’s broken enough.

“I miss you too,” he says quietly, supporting the wrist of his injured hand with the other.

She turns around and looks at him sadly, “Then why aren’t you home?”

“You know why,” he mutters, s holding his injured. “I love you. And it kills me that I can’t… that you’re not… that we… that we’re supposed to be just friends now. I don’t know how to do that, Jess.”

“Me neither,” she says, her hand gently brushing his injured one, and she keeps her gaze fixed there.

“I say we uncall it,” he says at last, after a few seconds of silence. “And that try to work it out.”

“What do you mean?” she breathes and she looks up at him with wide eyes.

“We love each other, right?” he asks.

“Yes,” she says firmly and the fingers of his injured hand close around hers.

“Then we work it out,” he says and looks at him earnestly. “That’s what people who love each other do. I’m sure we’ll… we’ll find a middle ground and I just… we can work it out. I think we should uncall it. Please, I- I can’t go on like this, Jess,” he admits.

“Nick…” she starts and she’s taking a deep breath and Nick freaks out.

“Before you say no,” he gulps. “Please, don’t say no.”

She blinks at him, surprised at his choice of words, and he’s stopped breathing.  She feels the tears form in her eyes and she can’t handle the explosive emotions anymore, but also feels like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. It felt like that night again, right before they drove away, except it was the same feeling ten times magnified. 

She looks up at him in a familiar way that jumpstarts his heart again, and he tilts his face down, allowing her to kiss him. She’s careful of his injured hand, and plants a careful and gentle kiss on his lips in response.

* * *

_[ **The prompt list this is from.** ](https://cosmictrap.tumblr.com/post/169135079998/prompt-list-1) _

[ _**And feel free to shoot me any prompts of your choice!** _ ](https://cosmictrap.tumblr.com/ask)

**Author's Note:**

> Oops. Another Post-Mars Landing AU. Sorry, it’s just my favourite thing to write. And there is a lot more dialogue than usual, so sorry about that too.
> 
> I might respond with the fic a little late, but I promise, I will respond. Prompts are such a delight to work with, so don’t hesitate!
> 
> Huh, I feel there’s a certain imbalance because I keep writing happy fics, all the time. 
> 
> And if you have a prompt with a specific situation in mind, that’s cool to! Let me know! :)


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